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<\/p>\nRailway crossing incident splits peloton in half but Poga\u010dar and Evenepoel avoid possible disqualification early at the Tour of Flanders. <\/p>\n
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An incident rocked the Tour of Flanders early. (Photo: Dario Belingheri\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Updated April 5, 2026 08:21AM<\/p>\n
Tadej Poga\u010dar<\/a> and Remco Evenepoel avoided possible disqualification Sunday in the men\u2019s Tour of Flanders after a railway crossing incident early in the race.<\/p>\n It happened at about 200km to go when defending champion Poga\u010dar and several UAE Emirates-XRG teammates, Evenepoel, and dozens of others were caught out at a railroad crossing.<\/p>\n The peloton was split into two with red lights flashing and the safety bars coming down.<\/p>\n Other favorites, such as Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel, were forced to stop behind the closed crossing. A regional train passed through, and the race quickly resumed.<\/p>\n Race officials ordered the front group to slow down and allow the chasing riders to regain contact.<\/p>\n A breakaway up the road by more than three minutes, including American Luke Lamperti, was not impacted, and its advantage was held under race protocol.<\/p>\n The incident still triggered debate, however, because the rules of the race say that riders must stop if the lights are flashing red and safety bars are down at a railway crossing.<\/p>\n Riders can face disqualification for blatant violations. Het Nieuwsblad reported that local prosecutors said they will review the incident.<\/p>\n There were no clear TV images of the front of the incident and it was not immediately apparent what happened when.<\/p>\n Poga\u010dar and others were allowed to keep racing, in part because the incident came so early in the race.<\/p>\n Fines and sanctions could be issued later.<\/p>\n Riders have been disqualified after finishing a race, however. In the 2006 Paris-Roubaix, Peter Van Petegem and Leif Hoste were DQd after ignoring railway signals.<\/p>\n Medio pelot\u00f3n se queda parado por un paso a nivel, la otra mitad sigue adelante… <\/p>\n y el coche de carrera abronca a los que no han parado en las barreras, entre ellos Pogacar, que con el reglamento en la mano podr\u00eda ser descalificado.<\/p>\n Una de las im\u00e1genes de #RVV26<\/a>. pic.twitter.com\/IfsKBu6ZC6<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Eurosport.es (@Eurosport_ES) April 5, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n